The 40-year-old Belgian was first stopped and then convicted of drunk driving back in 2019. The man was confused – he insisted that he didn’t drink at all. But since then he was stopped regularly: until it turned out that the body of a resident of Bruges itself produces alcohol on an ongoing basis.
The situation became clearer after the Belgian was stopped once again. It turned out that he had exceeded the country’s limit for drunk driving violations. The man did not want to be left without a car and went to court.
Several checks followed, because the suspect did not even know about his condition. Only in April 2024 was it possible to prove that a person suffers from “autobrewery syndrome”, ABS. This is a rare disease in which an intoxicating amount of the standard is formed in the digestive system as a result of endogenous fermentation.
All charges against the man had to be dropped. However, it later turned out that he works at a brewery and now the police are preparing another investigation.
ABS is completely treatable. The syndrome is eliminated by a certain diet.
